Pony Club (band)

Pony Club are a Dublin-based Irish band, primarily a vehicle for Mark Cullen. Other members include his brothers, Darren and Jason, as well as Martin Healy and David Morrissey, both formerly of A House, and Rob Cumiskey of The Kybosh.

Pony Club
OriginDublin, Ireland
Years active2001 - present
LabelsHum
Associated actsBawl
Fixed Stars
Websitehttp://www.ponyclub.tv/
MembersMark Cullen
Darren Cullen
Jason Cullen
Martin Healy
David Morrissey
Rob Cumiskey

History

Bawl and Fixed Stars

Cullen and his brothers moved from Finglas, Dublin to London in the 1990s after having signed to A&M under their then moniker, Bawl (which also featured Stephen McBride on bass). [1][2] Bawl had released a series of singles on their own label, Dependent Records, and in 1996 released an album, Year Zero on A&M. This attracted critical attention and some "the new Smiths" hype (the Cullens cited their mother singing Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others at the kitchen sink as an influence) but disappointing sales.[3] For legal reasons, the band had to change its name to Fixed Stars and signed on with Mercury. They released several singles as Fixed Stars, but broke up in 2000, having been dropped before releasing their album.

Ian Broudie of the Lightning Seeds had produced some of the Fixed Stars singles, and Mark Cullen continued to work with Broudie, writing songs for the Lightning Seeds album Tilt, and contributing with Broudie to the soundtrack of Purely Belter.[4][5] Cullen and Broudie continue to collaborate on "songs for other people", and Cullen has written for Kylie Minogue.[6]

Pony Club

After the post-Fixed Stars transition period, Cullen then signed as a solo artist, under the name Pony Club, to Setanta Records, natural home for many Irish indie acts. As Pony Club, Cullen works with a variety of musicians, still including his brothers, and, recently, Martin Healy and David Morrissey, of Setanta labelmates A House (John Carrol, A House's manager, had also managed Bawl) and Rob Cumiskey of Dublin band, The Kybosh.

So far, Pony Club have released three albums, the first two on Setanta. Home Truths (Allmusic review: 3.5/5 link) was named album of the year for 2002 by Dan Cairns of the Sunday Times,[7] and resulted in Cullen being offered a support slot on Morrissey's American tour.[8] For financial reasons, the band were unable to take up this offer, but they did get to support him at his concert at London's Royal Albert Hall that year.[9] The second is Family Business (Allmusic review: 4/5 link) from 2004.

Following the demise of Setanta, the third Pony Club album, Post Romantic, was released in November 2008 by Hum records.

Cullen has been called one of Ireland's top songwriters of the last decade.[10][11] He receives particular attention from critics for the quality of his lyrics, which are often compared to those of Jarvis Cocker for their power of observation and acerbity, as well as tributes for his songwriting from artists such as Morrissey and Terry Hall.[9]

The London band New Young Pony Club called themselves "New Young" to distinguish themselves from Pony Club. In response, Cullen has joked that he is happy to be known as the Old Decrepit Pony Club if needs must.[9]

Discography

Pony Club singles and albums
Single Album Year Label
Home Truths 2002 Setanta
Family Business 2004 Setanta
Post Romantic 2008 Hum
"Diplomat" 2009 Hum

Bawl singles and albums
Single Album Year Label
"Bathroom" 1995 Dependent Records
"Girls Night Out" 1996 Dependent Records
"Glen Campbell Nights" 1996 Dependent Records
"Beyond Safe Ways" 1996 Dependent Records
"Sticky Rock" 1996 Dependent Records
Year Zero 1996 Dependent Records, A&M Records
"He’s All That’s Great About Pop" 1997 Dependent Records

Fixed Stars singles
Single Year Label
"Blueprints" 1999 Mercury
"Every Night" 1999 Mercury
"Here Comes the Music" 1999 Mercury
"What If the World Sleeps with You?" 2000 Mercury
gollark: Mostly Sascha, Rph and Tako as far as I know.
gollark: All kukiteam people, whatever, or at least the involved ones.
gollark: *All* of you, this isn't really on Tako.
gollark: Kind of impressive that you managed to muck it all up so dramatically.
gollark: Anyway... this is significantly reducing my trust in Kukiteam, I must say.

References
  1. Ormond, Hugh (8 February 2004), "Keep It in the Family", The Times, retrieved 29 November 2008
  2. Strong, Martin C. (2003) "Bawl", in The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, ISBN 1-84195-335-0
  3. Archived 31 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Archived 24 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  5. "madasafish". Lightning-seeds.co.uk. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  6. Clayton-Lea, Tony (14 January 2009), "Pony Club takes the reins again", The Irish Times, retrieved 29 January 2009
  7. Cairns, Dan (8 December 2002), "Records of the Year: Pop and Jazz", Sunday Times, retrieved 29 November 2008
  8. Strong, Martin C. (2003) "Pony Club", in The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, ISBN 1-84195-335-0
  9. Kelly, N. (15 November 2008), "Is romantic Ireland dead and gone?", Irish Independent, retrieved 29 November 2008
  10. Downes, Darragh (14 November 2008), "Pony Express", Irish Times, The Ticket, retrieved 29 November 2008
  11. Mulally, Una (16 November 2008), "Post Romantic album review", Sunday Tribune, archived from the original on 31 May 2009, retrieved 29 November 2008


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